ABC tv show :PHOTO FINISH: discussion thread

[roastman]

I was mostly disappointed that the shot that won the most recent show was really just a stroke of luck, not really an indication of the skill of the photographer. I know luck is involved in photography, but the other two were better photographers than the winner. Most of her shots (well, what they flashed up on screen) were just horrible grab shots. I think she got really lucky and probably had no idea what she was taking at the time she pressed the shutter button. I could be wrong... Hey, I am not a great photographer, so I would be a it embarrassed if they told me on a television show they could see me working as a professional photographer, when I know I am a longgggg way from that level. While the first lady presented a shot that was not strictly landscape, isn't part of photography making the best of the situation you are placed in? She probably discarded some photos that were a better representation of the brief and may have won, but she chose what she thought was the best shot overall.

Maybe I am being a bit harsh. It just horrified me to see her walking around with a misty lens and shooting one handed, madly clicking away at whatever was in front of her. The shot she presented was OK, but would have been much better if she got down low and made the foreground a little more prominent. Can anyone work out why she would lug a tripod around and not use it? Let's leave our other lens and lens cap etc in the car, but carry around a tripod and balance it under our arm while shooting one handed..... Arghh. Guess I am being a bit of a photo snob, as I really don't think she should have won. It would be a very challenging situation to be thrown into, as you are being scrutinised and all your mistakes are being shown to the world. Tough job under those conditions and I doubt I could do better, but it is hard not to be critical.

[Ezookiel]

I fear a very short life span for the series -
It doesn't cater to people with a genuine interest in photography as it's nowhere near deep enough.
It isn't very much use to the total novice discovering a P&S for the first time as it has no helpful or educational stuff.
And it won't have any interest at all to people with no photography interest.
So I'm really not sure who that leaves to actually keep the ratings up.

Seriously, how long did they take to get to Tassie, and when were they given the cameras, did they not have time to learn the basics of how to view images they've taken while enroute to Tassie?
Mind you, do this show with some 5D Mk III's and let them KEEP the camera at the end, and I'll enter for sure

[selaw]

As per the link : http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/program/22887 : it is stated as 138MB

Cheers, not as bad as I thought. I happened to catch it on the 11:00am ABC replay I was taken by the challenge they faced in a very interesting looking environment. I would love to get there one day. For that alone, I enjoyed the show and as mentioned earlier, I would have liked it a tad more to include more of the settings used.

[HelenClaire]

I actually enjoy the show . I guess if you are wanting something high tech that really explores photography in a big way you'll be disappointed. To me it is 30 minutes of photographic fairy floss. Enjoyable and fun without being too serious and dare I say it, I have picked up a few tips. I like seeing how others tackle assignments and hearing about their love of photography and what it means to them. It was interesting to see in the last episode what each contestant focused on while at Mt Wellington. Each had their own perspective and I enjoyed going on the journeys with them. Though I highly doubt they did it all in a day as the show implied. Next episode seems like they will be stretching the TV reality roadshow a bit too far. Expecting us to believe a bride and groom would leave the entire photographic assignment to a contestant who has to shoot with an unfamiliar camera is a bit too ridiculous unless the advertising is relying on shock tactics to get an audience. However despite these negatives I'll probably keep watching as it's a great excuse to put my feet up for 30 minutes.

[Ezookiel]

Just caught the first episode on iView.
My biggest frustration with this show, is now totally different. I was frustrated at how condensed the show is, but now I'm really annoyed at the method - if you really wanted to see what someone can do with 30 minutes preparation time, who has never been in a studio, never used those kinds of lights, and never used that type of camera, then send them into the studio with a bunch of "servant" techies on hand, so they can say "I want that light at 1/4 power", or "I want THAT light to flash, and not this one" and have someone there who sets it up for them to do that. Wouldn't that then test the contestant's prowess at photography, and give results that more truly reflect their creativity, rather than test how quickly they can learn unfamiliar gear?
It isn't any real indication of what they can do with photography, it's an indication of whether they are the sort of people who needs 2 days with an instruction manual and some "hands on" time to learn a new gadget, or whether they are the sort of person who gets a handle on a new gadget in minutes.

The perfect example was when the guy taking the shots of Dick Smith was having the wrong flash go off. All that creativity wasted, and time and shots wasted, by not having the gear do what he had in the plan he had in mind.
With them all having limited time, it is just damned annoying to have them having to retry something, or even maybe give up on something, just because they can't make a specific flash operate when or where they want.
Give them a bunch of "techies" - people who know the gear and how to set it - who they can order around, and let's test their creativity, their vision, their composition, etc not see time and maybe great ideas lost, while they learn how to make the correct flash fire.
Grrrrrrr.... Just really ANNOYED at the show now. Wish I hadn't gone and watched the first episode that I missed.

[agb]

What did we think of tonight's episode?
I cannot say that I liked the images presented for judging.
The obvious selection won, why did the others put photos of the back of the bride's head in for judging?

[Ezookiel]

All it did for me was restir the annoyance - putting someone in that position with a camera they can't even turn on one minute from the bride's arrival is NOT a test of their photography prowess.
I also understand the reason why they can't be PP'ed, but then it's also then a bit silly to fault the WB in a photo if they can't do something even as simple as adjust the WB in PP.
Some rather "newbie" mistakes though (says me as a newbie myself), but a backwards flash? That's way below the experience level they give the impression of in the introductions to these competitors.

I agree that a photo of the back of the bride's head is hardly the best shot to select. The image had definite emotion in it, and to the bride who wanted the kids to be the subject more than herself, then that's probably ok. However, it's still not my idea of the shot to choose. There seemed to be several that I thought were better images, but I'm not a wedding tog, and nor am I experienced at candid photography, so I'm hardly the one to judge.

[Kym]

The wedding shots were crud. Seriously bad. Out of focus, no eye contact, WB was out etc. Yuk Yuk Yuk!!!

[etherial]

All it did for me was restir the annoyance - putting someone in that position with a camera they can't even turn on one minute from the bride's arrival is NOT a test of their photography prowess.
I also understand the reason why they can't be PP'ed, but then it's also then a bit silly to fault the WB in a photo if they can't do something even as simple as adjust the WB in PP.
Some rather "newbie" mistakes though (says me as a newbie myself), but a backwards flash? That's way below the experience level they give the impression of in the introductions to these competitors.

I agree 100%.

Not sure I'll bother watching next week, this show is a waste of time sadly.

[jacarandabluephotography]

I think it was a mammoth ask in tonight's episode to expect three non wedding photographers to capture images of the certain parts of a wedding on a camera they were not familiar with. A wedding is one of the most difficult occasions to capture well and the images are those "forever" moments, no do-overs. Considering this i think the contestants were all very brave and whilst the majority of the photos were not up to the standard of most wedding photographers, the images presented mostly met the challenge of capturing a rite of passage. Yes alot were out of focus and poorly composed, but as first timers and pressure what would one expect. Would be nice to be a second shooter for weddings for quite a while before taking on such an onerus task. And i have to say the bride was very nice because i thought the photographers were really quite intrusive of her day snap, snap, snapping close up and flash going off at intimate moments , where perhaps with experience in such events and with a good knowledge of the particular cameras this would have been eliminated. I like the show though, and can never anticipate the winner, judging is so subjective

[Dylan & Marianne]

hmm I was going to say 'damn I missed tonights show because of a dinner' but now I'm not so sure lol!

[etherial]

hmm I was going to say 'damn I missed tonights show because of a dinner' but now I'm not so sure lol!

Seriously Dylan, don't bother trying to catch it, it was cringe-worthy.

[Kym]

I think it was a mammoth ask in tonight's episode to expect three non wedding photographers to capture images of the certain parts of a wedding on a camera they were not familiar with.

Which shows that it was a silly thing to do. Weddings are NOT for unprepared people. It goes against all the principles of good event / wedding photography.

[Mark L]

hmm I was going to say 'damn I missed tonights show because of a dinner' but now I'm not so sure lol!

ABC1 tomorrow at 11:00. It's got to be worth a cringe. I'll be there..........

[etherial]

ABC1 tomorrow at 11:00. It's got to be worth a cringe. I'll be there..........

It's not.

You were warned!

[kiwi]

Fantastic entertainment, haven't laughed so much for ages




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[enduro]

cringe worthy show.

Saw ep1 & 2 and will not go back - though I just might if I want to hurt myself that day!

In my and my wife's opinion, the photog's are far out of their depth and this detracts from the viewers employment. Would be nice to see (amateur) photogs that knew a bit about the areas they were to be challenged actually be able to perform in that area.

Setting up a bunch of first camera (with Full Auto mode experience only - that's what they are) shooters in a room with pro lighting is asking for a Fawlty Towers result.

Could have been a lot better.

- - - Updated - - -

Perhaps my last post in this thread.

I feel strongly for the people that have been put in the position of having to shoot professional level images with NO EXPERIENCE AT ALL.

Imagine going on Mast*rChef with only experience in cookig pre-prepared meals.

ABC production were clearly not communicating well when putting the ideas for this show together.

[koputai]

With a little bit of instruction on the equipment, and a little bit of guidance for the
participants, this could be a really good and worthwhile show. As it is there is just
no point to it, nobody produces anything other than basically crap, and nobody
learns anything.

With very little more money spent, and an extra half a day per episode of production, it would be a totally different show.

A waste of time, I won't be watching again.

Cheers,
Jason.

[ricktas]

I thought this show was one of the best so far. The guest judge seemed more interesting in providing valuable advice to the three. We got to see more of how this is done. I noted the large stack of notes the ceremony photographer had, when she couldn't 'turn it on'. It would be interesting to know how much information they are provided with and how long before the actual shoot they are given that 'pack'.

It seems a lot more goes on behind the scenes that is being edited out and slowly they are adding some of that aspect back into what the viewer gets to see. I am starting to see this show developing (pun intended) from where it was at episode 1. I reckon they are listening to the viewer feedback and we will slowly see it grow as the episodes rack up.

I do think we are most likely not the intended viewer demographic, and the show is more aimed at those with phone cams and point and shoot camera's. One thing that is positive, is that it showed that just cause you own a camera does not mean you can setup a wedding photography business and be a 'professional'. If it makes some newbies think twice about popping into Harvey Norman, getting the latest twin lens DSLR kit and shooting a wedding for a few $$ the next weekend, then it is successful as a show, in that regard.

[Black Dog]

Interesting to see everyone's perspective on the show. I was so excited to hear there was going to be a photography show finally. I have been saying to my partner that I would like to see a "Next Top Photographer show" and I think that may be a better format.. Multiple photographers that each week are set a challenge and one goes each week so we can at least see some development.

I agree with everyone about the why throw people in the deep end like that. I also worry about the message it is sending. If the target audience is not "us" as most are stating then is it saying "These people can't use the Pro Equipment , yet can wing it and at the end be told they have professional shots and could be professional photographers" I think that really undermines the skill and time many people are putting into their art.

Do you guys think there is some more behind the scenes assistance? What is the point of the mentor if the one sentence mid show is all the mentoring? It would be good if hey actually got mentored through the entire show so the audience could learn.

Other than that I think after 3 episodes everyone's comments are pretty spot on.